From the cocoon of craziness, a Presidential butterfly
has emerged. It took just one look at “those
beautiful babies” for Donald Trump to extol his virtue of “flexibility,” and do
what he condemned his predecessor for even contemplating, a direct strike in
Syria without Congressional approval. It
was the perfect confluence of opportunity, being able to engage in a low risk
strike to deliver a long overdue message to Assad, throwing raw meat to the
public thereby looking Presidential to prop up his approval ratings, while
burying the Russian election tamping (and Trump’s possible connection) to the
back pages of the Internet. A trifecta of fortuity!
Yes, there is nothing like a war. Even Brian Williams was waxing poetically on MSNBC
“we see these beautiful pictures at night from the decks of these two U.S. Navy
vessels in the eastern Mediterranean, “I am tempted to quote the great Leonard
Cohen: ‘I am guided by the beauty of our weapons.’”
Oh, the thrill of launched Tomahawks, beautiful to
behold! Stephen Sondheim’s priceless pasquinade
“There’s Something about a War” (from A
Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) says it all. The complete lyrics can be heard in this YouTube link but here is just a small excerpt to
make the point.
….
There’s something
about a war.
Something about a
war
Something about a
war
That makes this
little old world all right.
…
A warrior’s work is
never done.
He never can get a
rest.
There always are
lands to overrun
And people to be
oppressed.
There’s always a
town to pillage
A city to be laid
waste.
There’s always a
little village
Entirely to be erased.
And citadels to sack,
of course,
And temples to
attack, of course.
Children to annihilate,
Priestesses to
violate…..
Or maybe some of the Village People’s Macho Man lyrics are appropriate in this
instance:
You can best believe that he's a macho man
He's the special god son in anybody's land
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey
Macho, macho man
I gotta be a macho man
Macho macho man
Yes let’s all get into the spirit of it. Not that the Pentagon’s decision (with Trump’s
approval) to send the message was the wrong one; something finally had to be
done in response to the reported use of chemical weapons, but to get caught up
in this one action without having an end game or more importantly a
compassionate plan for Syrian refugees, is typical of this chaotic administration.
Obama tried to involve Congress in the decision to intervene
in Syria but the very people now sagely approving the recent attack would not
give Obama authority. Obama, in
retrospect, should have just made a preemptive strike without bothering with
the Constitution. He was damned either
way. Trump was already tweeting back in
2013 “The President must get Congressional approval before attacking Syria-big
mistake if he does not!” Or the one
which is even more telling is from 2012: “Now that Obama’s poll numbers are in
tailspin – watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. He is desperate.”
Who’s desperate now? But as we have been conditioned, no
real push back on any of this. He’s
flexible! It’s okay! There is nothing
like a war!
Maybe if Trump is constantly exposed to pictures of
Syrian children he will reverse his anti-refugee policy, so antithetical to
what this nation stands for. As one
Syrian refugee put it: Who gets to pick their country?
While hiding behind the shield of being a humanitarian,
Trump has flexed his “strong man” muscle, even to the delight of some of his
naysayers who have been calling him crazy.
One can only hope that he continues to listen to the professionals in
the National Security Council. Give him
credit for removing Bannon from the NSC. One has to be grateful for morsels of sanity.
